Today we deal with the second part of Aaron's staff, which we talked about the first time.
What I've written on the board is the recap of how we started last time. We are talking
about the contents of the ark, and inside the ark was Aaron's staff, which had budded.
God asked Moses to put it in the ark, and he wanted to establish an unchangeable, eternal
principle of divine order we talked about last time. In Numbers 17.10, we read what
it was meant to be. The staff represented the authority of the set man or the man that
leads and the father in the house. It was placed there as a signal or a red flag against
bitterness, against rebellion, and against stubbornness of the house, of the sons of
the house. So we dealt with that. Today we talk about, again, this idea of the order.
I literally want to call it that, the order of fathers and sons. The order of fathers
and sons. It's a divinely prescribed order, and the intent is to show you from scriptures
so that you and I can walk in it. We are framing an order. We are framing an order, not a Jacob
or a May or a Heidi or a Tooney. That's not what we're doing. We're not trying to say,
this is how this person should be treated. No, we are framing an order that will last
for generations, because it has lasted for generations, but there's sufficient pushback
against it, and it must be established. So if you turn to Genesis 18, let's start there.
Genesis 18. Genesis 18. And as I teach, you'll find why we are calling it framing an order,
not trying to limit it to a position, a person. This has been from everlasting and should
be till things end. Genesis chapter 18, starting at verse 16. Genesis 18. 16. When the men
got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see
what was going on on their way. Then the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am
about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations
on the earth will be blessed through him. Listen to the next word. For I have chosen
him, so that he will direct and command his children and his household after him to keep
the word of God. By doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for
Abraham what he has promised him. It's crazy that verse. What it is saying there is that
God's promise was dependent on Abraham's offspring. God's promise was dependent on Abraham's
offspring to bring it to pass, to bring them to a place. Bring it to pass. So even though
Abraham was the progenitor, or progenitor simply means the one to whom the promise was first
given and was supposed to be continued as an inheritance, even though Abraham was a
progenitor. What is the promise given to him? The promise is in Genesis 12, 1-3. What is
the promise? That Abraham, leave your clan country, go. As you go out, know that through
you, I'll bless all the nations. You'll become a father of many nations. I'll bless nations
through you. Those that are blessed through you will be blessed. Those that curse you
will be cursed. And that I'll fill the earth with your descendants. That's the promise
given. But the moment the promise is given, here's the catch. In Genesis 18, God is literally
saying, I believe that Abraham is someone who will raise his sons to carry this promise.
Because if he does not raise his sons, this promise will stop. There's no covenant, no
promise on the face of the earth that does not fizzle out. If you do not, convey it to
the next generation and then teach the next generation to teach a third generation. All
promises die. Look at any covenant that God made. It always involved the order of fathers
and sons. So in Genesis 18-19, for the Lord to bring to pass things he has spoken, he
requires Abraham to command the sons after him to carry the vision. Crazy. Let's say
Vivek has a vision that only Emmanuel can carry. Not because he's a male child. Females,
males, like I said, these are genderless terms. But let's assume that there's a vision that
Emmanuel must carry. Then Vivek will have to train Emmanuel to carry forward that command.
Otherwise the vision dies. So anything that a church does, any promise given to a church,
any promise given to your family dies if the order of fathers and sons is not the framework
that is used to progress God's agenda. It doesn't mean that you won't go to heaven. It doesn't
mean that you won't get healed. It doesn't mean that you will not love him or that he will not
love you. It doesn't mean that you will not hear God. All those things are active. But here's
the thing. Purpose, ministry, vision does not see its fulfillment without this framework.
And I'll show you again and again and again in the scriptures. Some of it is heart-wrenching
what's happened. God knew that Abraham would be able to pass on to his children the things
that the Lord had given him. I love it. He's talking to the angels next to him and he's saying,
shall I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful
nation. All the nations on the earth will be blessed for him. For I have chosen him, and this is
God's foreknowledge, for I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his household
after him to do what? To keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. So that, towards
God's intent, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him. And what's
the promise? The promise is not that Abraham will become a rich man. The promise is that God's
blessing will be upon the nations of the earth, including you. Because in Galatians 3 it says,
who are the sons of Abraham? You know the Jews at one point in their discourse with Jesus in
Matthew chapter 4 say to Jesus, who do you think we are? Who do you think you are? We are the
children of Abraham. That's what they say. We're not talking about children. We're talking about
sons that are able to convey. And so you can only be a father of a multitude if you have an Isaac
who will carry forward the vision and seed. It always starts with one. See, I think Acts 29 has
learned this and is a household that operates like this. So sometimes if I sound strong, it's not
coming out against the church. I'm just talking about this principle that is so opposed now in the
world that has to be brought out. Foundations have to be rebuilt. One of the things we are doing is
not for our sake, but for the sake of the earth. But it is also a litmus test. If I held a plumb
line against you, how would you shape up? If you held a plumb line against me, how would I shape up?
That's also important because it's a reality check and truth is the best plumb line. So Abraham,
God says to him that I'll make you the father of multitudes of a nation, but you cannot become the
father of a multitude unless you have one Isaac to carry forward the vision and seed. Sometimes that's
all you need, one Isaac. But if you don't go towards building up an Isaac, then it doesn't matter what
you do. It will die. It cannot be transferred forward. And we see examples in the Bible. It is one
thing to teach a son how to be a father. It's another to teach a son how to teach a third generation to be
a father. Just think of that. It's one thing to teach a son how to be a father. It's another thing how to
teach that son how to teach a third generation. Otherwise it dies in two. You have to play two
generations ahead. I must be able to teach, Don must be able to teach, Abhishek must be able to teach
our friend here. Four generations would be great. So it's not enough that I teach Don how to operate and
Don is happy with that. Don must now learn as a father how to teach a third generation how to carry forward
what must be carried forward. If not, it dies. I don't know if it is important to you that things live or die.
And if it is not important to you, you must question what are you living for except yourself? As a believer,
you must question this. As I'm speaking, if it's not important to you and I can prove it scripturally that it
should be, then a question must be asked, what am I living for? Because if all you're living for is you, then
you don't need to do this. One of the statements that Absalom makes in 2 Samuel 18, 18, here's what he says.
And he dies, but here's what he says, I don't have sons, so I will build a memorial to myself. And he builds
himself a pillar and he calls it Absalom's pillar. And he dies. What does he leave behind? He leaves behind
a memorial. Ministries, pastors, churches, denominations are leaving behind them memorials.
What does that memorial have? It has the grace of a man who is dead or the grace of a principle that is now
dead. That's all you got. And that's living for oneself. In the Bible, every person was made up of two things,
his ancestry and his offspring. And it mattered. Ancestry mattered, offspring mattered. And caught in that, if you were caught between
those two, you were shaped. So it's time to restore these foundations to the earth. All divine covenants, all divine covenants
and renewals that God does happen through the order of fathers and sons, be it Adam, the Adamic covenant would not
have happened without fathers and sons. I'll tell you this, why it's important, because Genesis 1.27 does not happen if there are
no frameworks of fathers and sons. Genesis 1.27 says this, go forth, multiply. After what? After your kind. What was Adam's
kind? God. Why was God so confident that Adam would do well? Because God knew how he made Adam. He was made in the image of
God. So it's natural for you to multiply after your kind. It's only when you come to set that the Bible changes and Genesis 5 says
and then Adam's son began to look like Adam. Till then, it was Adam looked like God. Take the Adamic covenant as that. Take the Noahic covenant,
same thing. Noah, I'm restarting with you. There's a reason why it was not just Noah that was saved, because he was a righteous man, but it wasn't
just him that was saved. He was saved with his family and his children. Take the Abrahamic covenant. The Abrahamic covenant is completely
dependent on one thing, Isaac, the son of promise. The beautiful thing is when Abraham is 60, when Abraham was born, Noah was 890 years old. When Abraham was 60,
that's when Noah dies. Abraham spent 60 years with a man that God restarted the earth with. Abraham knew what a rainbow really meant because he heard it from the one who first saw the
rainbow. 15 years later, he's at a place called Heron, and once again, God is renewing a promise. But you think Abraham didn't pick up from his great-great-great nine times over grandfather
that for 60 years he listened to stories of Noah, of how he went into an ark and the door was shut from outside, how it was completely inundated with a flood, how he offered the first sacrifice. You think when Abraham is chasing the vultures away
and there's a flaming torch passing, he doesn't remember the covenant that Noah made? I cannot even tell you how rich you are to have an inheritance from ministry or spiritual fathers, and I cannot tell you how poor you are when you choose to
resist it. I say that to you, I say that to me, and I say that to the earth because these are foundations that are generational that must be reestablished if the church is to prosper.
Take Jesus, listen to his prayer in John 17. His prayer in John 17 is, Oh God, you gave me these. He knows where sons come from. Oh God, you gave me these, and I have not lost a single one of them except that one that was supposed to perish. You gave me these, and I have kept them, I have shown them, I have revealed everything to them.
Take David's covenant. David taught people how to walk in this. Every covenant, I mean go to Joshua 24, Joshua 24, Joshua 24, Joshua 24, Moses, David, Jesus, Isaac, Paul, us.
Look at Joshua 24. It's the last chapter of Joshua, and God is speaking, and look at how he traces how covenants are renewed. He's going to renew a covenant with Israel.
And so Joshua assembles the officials and leaders. Joshua said to all people, this is what the Lord the God of Israel says, verse 2, Long ago your forefathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the river and worshipped other gods.
But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the river and let him throw out Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
Then I went and sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. When I brought your fathers out of the Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued you with chariots, but they cried out to the Lord, and I put darkness upon the Egyptians.
And he goes on, the intent there is to show, listen, I'm a covenant-keeping God, but all the covenants I renew and I make, I make with the intent of it being conveyed forward generation after generation through the order or the framework of fathers and sons.
There's no other way around this, man.
The job of a father, what's the job of a father? Very simple. The job of a father is to raise fathers.
That's not the answer you expected, but that's the right answer. The job of a father is to raise fathers.
If Abraham doesn't raise Isaac to be a father, Isaac cannot convey what he wants to Jacob and to Esau. The job of fathers is to raise fathers.
And what do you mature sons into? You mature sons into fatherhood.
This point is having a son fully mature, but if he cannot then father, what's the point? That's exactly what happened to Absalom. Absalom was handsome. Absalom was skilled at war. Absalom was getting people drawn to him.
But what does he leave behind on earth? Read 2 Samuel 18, 18. Sorry. Yeah, 2 Samuel 18, 18. 2 Samuel 18, 18. Oh, I better not touch this.
2 Samuel 18, 18. That's the hymn book. Can someone read it, please? This one's the Bible.
And now behind door three, 2 Samuel 18, 18.
Such a sad verse, but so, so, so like the church today. 2 Samuel 18, 18.
During his lifetime, Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the Kings Valley. So no ordinary valley, Kings Valley, as a monument to himself for he thought, I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.
He named the pillar after himself and it is still called Absalom's monument to this day. What's the point?
You want a ministry named after you? This is the way to go.
But if you want the truth of God to be conveyed forward, then it is important that all of us learn to do this.
That's why I said it's not about, this teaching is not about how you should treat leaders.
It's a lot about how leaders should treat you, but it's not about the respect that you owe me or the respect that you owe someone.
It is the framework. It is the order. It's a divine order.
It was established by God and the staff was placed in the ark so that we don't forget.
And the earth is quickly forgetting. Why? Because we live in churchianity that is highly individualized, highly independent and does not like the word submission.
That's why. Accountability and submission, nah.
As in the physical, so in the spiritual.
Raising children into maturity is done best by fathers.
Like I said, it's a genderless term. Please do not rule yourself out because you are a female.
Raising children, like in the physical, so in the spiritual, raising children is best done by fathers, by ones.
So what's critical to this equation?
Critical to this equation is the expectation that the father's love is seen and is the way ministry fathers or spiritual fathers, whatever word you want to use, operate.
God brings sons and daughters from far to be raised to be nursed when genuine fathers are present.
God brings sons and daughters from far to be raised and nursed when a genuine father is present.
You can read that in Isaiah 64.
Look up and see how they are bringing your sons and daughters back on their hips from afar.
And what is the job of a father? The job of a father is to raise fathers.
Who is a mature son? Sons always mature into fatherhood.
Never forget that eh?
And so you may have a great call on your life eh?
You may be highly gifted, you may have a great call, and yet you may not learn how to raise sons.
Like David. David was such a great man. He was a skilled warrior.
You want to be like David. Everybody wants to be like either Michael Jordan or David.
And yet David was a pretty sad father.
He did not have the skills of a father. Joshua did not have the skills of a father.
Highly gifted men. In Joshua 24 verse 31, Joshua 24 verse 31, look what it says.
Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him,
who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.
Now turn two pages over, Judges chapter 2 verse 10.
After the whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up
who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. One generation.
Let's assume I was Joshua and let's assume Don was the next generation.
In one generation, I experienced everything that God had, was not able to convey.
Don's generation comes and they do not know anything about the God that I serve.
It is absolutely possible. These are biblical examples.
If this framework does not exist, a church cannot move into the full purpose
or the fruitfulness or the vision of God. It's not possible. It's just not possible.
Instead of being starting points for spiritual revelation that will be reproduced in every successive generation,
you become an institution that testifies of the past.
Oh, you know, we had a pastor called Jacob. Oh my God, he was a handsomest guy you could see.
When he stretches hands out, rivers parted. Oh, we remember those days.
Thank you.
So you begin to testify of the past, but you have nothing that you can do yourself.
Failure to raise sons. Failure to raise sons.
Failure to raise sons in this frame order or framework results in great torment later, great torment.
And it threatens what has been built. It threatens what has been built.
We see it with David, who was a man who suffered so much torment because he did not do well with Amnon.
He did not do well with Tamar. He did not do well with Absalom. Great torment he faced.
And then they became a threat to his kingdom. It literally broke him and his kingdom apart.
But because he was a man after God's heart and knew how to repent and go back, he would keep going back.
In 2 Kings 4, 2 Kings 4, 2 Kings 4,
Read the story of this woman that takes her son to Elisha.
But you read it, you feel kind of sad. 2 Kings 4, verse 18 to 22.
2 Kings 4, 18 to 22.
So this child grows up that Elisha had prophesied about, verse 17.
But the woman became pregnant and the next year about the same time she gave birth to a son just as Elisha had told her, verse 18.
The child grew and one day he went out to his father who was with the reapers.
My head, my head, he said to his father. His father told the servant, carry him to his mother.
After the servant had lifted him up and carried him to his mother, the boy sat on her lap until noon and then he died.
She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and then shut the door and went out.
She called her husband and said, please send me one of the servants and a donkey so I can go to the man of God quickly and return.
Why go to him today, he asked. It's not the new moon or the Sabbath. It's all right, she said.
She saddled the donkey, said to her servant, lead on, don't slow down for me unless I tell you.
So she set out and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
It's strange here in the story. You find that on one hand there is a father in the house and you can have a father in the house,
but you can still have a father who is conspicuous by his absence.
So here is a father in this family, but he is absent.
And we need to understand what it is for a father to be present and what it is for a father to be absent in the lives of sons.
To be present, to be present in the life of your sons is to engage them.
To be aware of what's happening, sometimes not because of what you see, but because of what you hear,
because you know how they are functioning with God because you pray for them, be aware of them.
Deposit into their lives.
Wrestle with them.
Sometimes bring, you know what, the word touchstone, which is used to test gold and find out whether gold is real,
the word touchstone in Greek comes from a word called basanos. I just remember the word.
And it actually means torment.
Sometimes you have to use the torment of the truth upon sons if you want to find out what they are really made of.
And if they either withdraw or they'll resist or they'll respond.
You should launch them. You should help them transition.
You should admonish them.
You should lead them. You should encourage them.
You should carry when required.
Carry when required.
This is what being present looks like. I want to tell you what being present is not like.
Being present is not.
Is not coddling them. Oh, poor thing. You walked two meters. Let me carry you now.
It's not to coddle them, not to endorse them or endorse their complexes, not to massage their feelings.
It's not having chat and chai.
It's not replacing their parents.
It's not catering to their abandonment syndrome.
This is not what father's being present is.
We'll take questions after this.
And then the other thing I want to say before we take questions is sons that look for rewards, recognition or friendship.
Sons that only look for rewards, recognition or friendship, usually don't mature.
Okay, any questions?
Yeah, sometimes, what if I said, hey, you don't need to listen to your dad anymore.
I can tell you what is required, where you substitute yourself.
Spiritual fathers and ministry fathers can do two terrible things.
They can substitute themselves for God and they can substitute themselves for any other family that is in your life.
Both happen. These are abuses that happen.
Where then you end up dishonoring your parents.
And by the way, there's a difference between obedience and honor and you need to understand that.
Because very often, especially if you're from a South Asian culture, we confuse obedience and honor.
It is possible to honor my mother.
Both my dad and mom are not around, but there were so many times when I had to make sure that I honored my mother, but I did not obey her.
Because there were many instances where what she was suggesting that I do did not line up with either what scriptures were saying or what the Lord had very clearly indicated.
And so I have to make sure that I honor her.
But honor and obedience should not be equated because when honor and obedience are equated,
you end up doing things that you know are wrong, but you'll still go ahead and do it because you think of it in terms of honor.
It has to align with scriptures, of course. I'm not talking about cars or property or stuff like that.
I'm talking about situations where, I mean, the number of males, South Asian males, who get married to people because of the pressure put on by family or parents is ridiculous.
Where sometimes you end up marrying someone who's not even a believer.
That's when you have to choose honor, yes, but obedience, sometimes no.
Yep.
The fathers, it's a father's job to bring sons into maturity, to bring them to be fathers.
So David, David didn't deal with Amnon correctly.
David didn't deal with Tamar correctly.
David didn't deal with Absalom correctly.
Joa brought Absalom, said, take him back.
But David would not.
David chased Amnon away when he should have brought Amnon in.
Tamar was raped. He should have done something about her.
She was left alone.
It was disastrous as a father.
Joshua the same.
How do you not convey the attributes of God that you have seen up front, face to face to your children?
So the responsibility always lies with the one that originates.
And in the kingdom, like I said, the egg, when it comes to chicken and egg, what comes first?
Chicken.
Yeah.
Six, seven, chicken, egg.
No, always six, always chicken.
Yeah.
So you'll have to define what you mean by vision.
Yeah, it is possible.
And that is when it becomes even harder.
How do you submit to someone when you know certain parts of how the car works better than the one who actually got you the car and paid for the insurance?
That is when it really gets difficult.
The next 40 minutes.
This is appropriate in Sheldon and Jane's house right from when Phoebe is small.
There's no point in doing this.
This is appropriate in Sheldon and Jane's house right from when Phoebe is small.
There's no point where it doesn't apply.
Why is it that Moses raised Joshua instead of Gershom?
Instead of Gershom, because God said, I'm going to ask you to bring Joshua out.
And you are the first set man, but you have to appoint a second set man and Joshua is that second set man.
Very clearly, God told Moses that Joshua is the next one.
So in Numbers 17 or thereabouts, he said, appoint Joshua because he has to learn from you.
Cool.
A big part of fatherhood is enduring for those you father.
A big part of fatherhood is enduring for those you father, as in endure or be patient and be patient.
And it's the patience that loves, not a patience that's annoying.
And even when there is annoyance, hide it.
Hide it.
The prodigal son's father was patient.
He was enduring.
He waited.
When annoyance comes in, hide the annoyance.
Don't show it.
Annoyance, when it's shown immediately, does harm, damages.
Learn how to overcome the annoyance.
The expression of annoyance can be pretty upsetting.
I mean, really, patience with annoyance, when has it ever been helpful?
Yeah, I'll be patient with you, but get on with it.
That's not very helpful, right?
It still stings.
So I had someone write to me saying, I feel it's none of you, but this person wrote an email saying, Jacob, I just feel you're annoyed with me.
And I wrote back saying, I'll make sure that if I'm annoyed with you, it won't show like it has been showing because it doesn't help.
So it takes patience to be responsible.
It's the kind of patience that matures you because it's the patience that loves.
Some of the other mistakes that fathers can make.
And there's not a mistake here that I will bring out that I haven't made and that I don't plan on making.
A father who sees his son's son's father, he's not going to be able to see his son.
He's not going to be able to see his son.
And that I don't plan on making a father who sees his son's competitively will harm the unique identity.
If you don't see your son's according to their unique identity and you begin to see them competitively or you encourage competition, you will harm them.
One of the classic examples is in Genesis 27 10, where you had Isaac who loved Esau, who was an outdoors adventurous kind of guy.
And then Rebecca, who loved Jacob, who was a guy with who basically liked sitting in his house and looking at planes kind of a thing.
And so Rebecca in Genesis 27 10, she actually hears Isaac about to bless Esau.
So she says, take a dig, come here.
And she hatches this plan of deception that Jacob goes with.
There was a rivalry that ended up almost destroying the family.
Fathers mustn't. I haven't written fathers here.
I've written I. I mustn't have ulterior motives.
What are ulterior motives when it comes to this order of fathers and sons particularly?
Because next week we'll talk about sons this week talking about things that fathers should be careful of.
I mustn't have ulterior motives. What are ulterior motives?
Increasing my bank account through your giving.
Substituting for God, where you become so dependent on me that you don't have a relationship with God.
I become the mediator. I become Mother Mary or whatever you want me to be.
Or Father Mary. Oh, no, that doesn't work.
What I meant is that I become a mediator.
Demanding allegiance.
Exploiting you to increase my ministry.
Or simply putting my welfare above yours.
Another one is a father who demands loyalty but cuts you off.
If you question anything, will raise servants not sons?
Raises servants not sons?
So these are things I mustn't do.
These are things that anyone who at present is operating in the capacity of a father mustn't do.
It is something that none of you as you mature into fatherhood should do.
Because all of us are supposed to mature into fatherhood.
You shouldn't.
By the same token, sons that are abusive, sons that are slandering, sons that are dishonoring.
When that happens, do not retaliate.
Sons may be abusive, sons may be dishonoring, sons may be slandering.
I assure you of this.
As you begin to actively walk in the role of a ministry or spiritual father to your sons,
I assure you that you will go through the experience like your master did of being slandered, of being abused, of being dishonored.
It's guaranteed.
When that happens, do not retaliate.
But take a firm stance and leave the door open.
Take a stance and leave the door open.
Because here's the thing, guys.
Often when sons do this, spiritually and physically they begin to wither, eh?
And that discipline sometimes drives them back.
You better leave the door open when that happens.
You know, it's strange.
In Genesis 9, it says that...
We won't discuss it today, but when you read it, it's so...
Not convoluted, it's so...
It's so hard to sometimes understand.
So Noah's lying drunk.
Shem walks in and sees him.
And the intent is that Shem at some point laughed at him or did something that was dishonoring to him.
And he leaves.
And here's what it says then.
It wasn't Shem that was cursed.
It was Canaan, his son, that was cursed.
As much as blessings are conveyed forward through the order of fathers and sons,
know that things that are negative and that are not blessings,
that are curses, are also conveyed forward through the framework of fathers and sons.
Now you see why in Malachi 4.6, the spirit of Elijah is required to make things good again.
What does it say in Malachi 4.6?
That I'm sending Elijah.
And what will he do?
He will turn the foolish into wise.
He will turn the disobedient into obedient.
And he will turn fathers towards their sons and sons towards the fathers.
Towards what end?
A simple end.
So that the curse is banished.
Beautifully.
You don't know how much restoration can happen.
Through just subscribing to an eternal divine principle.
Nobody is asking you to do anything.
But to subscribe to this order so that not only do you begin to learn in it,
but you get to do this for someone else, guys.
Only someone who's learned how to be a true son, a good son,
can actually behave like a true father or a good father.
Otherwise, where do you learn from?
Why is it that half this church has not been hugged by their dads or mums?
Mums, yes, by their dads.
Because your dads never got any kind of hugs from the ones before them.
Blessed are you if your dad still comes home and pats your head
and kisses you before you go to bed.
There are a couple of guys in this church whose dad used to come and do that to them
even when they were 18 or 19.
I don't want to call them out because they might feel a little embarrassed.
It's a beautiful thing to be loved.
And the hundreds, just if you take this room,
at least 50% of this room has not experienced it.
And it's heartbreaking when you think that you have to now learn it on your own.
But what if you could learn it?
What if the church becomes a household where the order of fathers and sons allows you to experience it
so that you get to do this for someone else?
Please understand, this is not about consolidating power.
This is not about demanding honor.
This is about entering an eternal principle that has been pushed back
and must be restored if the curse should be banished.
Otherwise, Shem's son, Kinnon, will still keep suffering
because Shem did something wrong.
I can't think of a more selfless message, guys.
Go to Genesis 9, 22-25, just so you know where the Shem thing happens.
Genesis 9, 22-25, and you'll see it there.
Genesis 9, 22-25, and it says,
When he drank some of his wine, he became drunk, lay uncovered inside his tent,
Ham the father of Kinnon saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
And then they walking backwards and all this stuff.
And then verse 24, When Noah awoke from his wine
and found out that his youngest son had done to him, he said,
Curse be Kinnon.
He doesn't say curse be Ham.
He says curse be Kinnon.
The lowest of slaves he'll be to his brothers.
And now go to Malachi 4.
Malachi 4, the last book in the Bible.
Malachi 4, verse 6.
Verse 5, See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.
Now go to Luke 1, 17.
Luke 1, 17.
Starting at 16.
Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God,
and he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and the power of Elijah,
which is very active in the world today,
because God always restores what has been broken,
in the spirit and in the power of Elijah,
to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
We are doing this not so that a church begins to do well.
We are making ready a people for God.
Come on, man.
That's what this is meant to do.
Make ready a people for the Lord.
It is not possible to say prepare either way of the Lord,
unless this framework is in operation,
because you cannot prepare, you cannot process,
you cannot direct, you cannot command,
you cannot convey without this order.
Fathers who are afraid to approach their sons on certain issues
will destroy the family.
One of the guys who was so afraid to approach his sons on issues was Eli.
In 1 Samuel 2, verse 29 and 30,
Eli refused to stop his sons who were priests.
He refused to stop them from taking the best cut of the sacrifice
or sleeping with the women who came to the temple.
He refused to stop them.
And in 1 Samuel 2, 29 and 30, God says to Eli,
why do you go and be okay with your sons doing this
and spurn my commands?
Because of this, you and your family will no longer be priests for me.
When fathers refuse to deal with situations in their sons' lives,
you will destroy the family.
And sometimes that's why you need the touchstone
or the torment of truth before the quality of gold in your sons is revealed.
That can be a painful process, it can drive people away,
but it's better that they be driven away
than for their entire family to be destroyed.
And so how do we process this?
We process this as, is this happening with me,
and is this what I'm doing with others?
Because we're talking about an order, not about a person.
A person should model it.
And to the extent that I've failed in modeling it,
you can hold me responsible, God will hold me responsible,
but worse, I will feel terrible that I wasn't able to portray this.
The intent is that every day I get better at this.
Because this is so important that if I don't and if you don't,
we leave the earth once again with something that's not restored.
The crazy thing is you can't coerce, you can't manipulate free will.
You can't withdraw love or threaten to withdraw love or favor,
because you can't coerce or manipulate free will.
Each one has to decide, because there will be sons who have an orphan spirit.
There are in this church today, and there has been in this church before,
and you find them all over.
I had this spirit for two years, I held out.
What do you mean held out?
I had two barriers, and I would not allow for close interaction.
Why?
In some cases it's because people have been hurt before,
or they've had bad experiences.
Mine was not that.
Mine was simply, I don't want to submit.
I want the freedom to choose, to move, to pick.
I want to play the market, get the best deal.
When this happens, all you can do is keep applying
the grace you have as a father.
You don't sideline the person, you keep applying the grace at intervals.
Six months later you try again, six months later you try again,
and you hope the flower is ready to open.
And if it is not, there's nothing you can do,
because you cannot coerce or manipulate a man's free will.
Like I said earlier, in the Bible a person's identity,
a person's identity, a person's identity and purpose
is always connected to ancestry and to offspring.
You know, here's the beautiful thing,
many of the things that I know that I'm supposed to finish here on earth,
I realize I may not finish.
I realize that Derek may have to finish it,
Gillian may have to finish it,
or Pound may have to finish it,
or Mike may have to finish it.
I may not finish it.
But the beauty of it is, it doesn't bother me anymore.
Why?
Because what if, like George said, Derek knows how to do it better?
What do I have then?
I have nothing, I don't have a memorial.
But I have sons that will finish the work.
Given by who?
Given by God.
So, to what end?
That the earth may benefit.
What is richer?
This is why for the Jewish nation,
the idea of not having an offspring that could carry things forward was devastating.
They couldn't imagine it.
But to be able to have God visions crafted in heaven,
appointed to you,
and many here have that appointed to you,
and you hold it, and you shape it, and you flesh it out,
and you put it into action, but this you know,
that you may not finish it, but it will be finished.
This is why David thrills when he realizes that his hands are too bloody,
and he cannot build a temple to the God he knows like nobody knew.
And then what does he do?
He collects things.
Why?
Because there's one boy, Solomon, that he seems to be raising correctly.
Not from any of his previous wives, from Bathsheba,
that he seems to be raising correctly, and he knows that this boy can build it.
And that boy had wisdom, though it didn't help him in the end,
but that boy had wisdom.
And where did he learn wisdom?
If you read the book of Proverbs, it says, it's such a beautiful bit.
I read it during the young adults wisdom class.
Solomon learned wisdom sitting on the knee of his father.
I learned wisdom sitting on the knee of my father.
He bounced me on his knee and taught me wisdom.
That's how you learn this.
And he leaves everything, and David goes away happy,
because he knows that this beautiful temple, and I don't even know how David received it.
It says, I received the pattern for the temple straight from God,
just like Moses received it on Mount Sinai, so I received it, and I drew it out.
What was this download like, man?
Man, we've got to show the earth how this is done.
It's time to restore the foundation of generations and to break the generational curse.
What curse are we breaking?
If we restore this order back to the earth, how are orders restored back to the earth?
I heard Derek talk about it when he talked about Shillong.
150 years ago, Presbyterian and Baptist ministers came to Meghalaya.
I've been to churches near this place called Cherrapundi, which used to be the rainiest place on earth.
There's a church there.
That church has five pillars, and you've heard me say this before.
On the five pillars are about 100 names.
You know what the names are?
The names are the families of Presbyterian missionaries, Scottish missionaries, who came to Meghalaya.
It's hard to get there today with planes and cars.
I don't know how they did it.
The pillars are full of names of little children, grown-up children, wives, husbands that died coming to establish the church in Meghalaya.
They died of malaria.
They died of snake bites.
They died of landslides.
The names are all written on this church.
So how is foundations restored?
Foundations is restored that way.
You pay a price for it.
You know why people don't want this relationship besides all the other reasons given?
Because you have to empty yourself, and it takes time.
Why go through this?
Why not just have a pastor and people relationship?
It's so much easier.
Meet me from nine to five.
Speak to my secretary, and then we'll see.
So how do we establish foundations?
Painstakingly.
Till it becomes a foundation.
And what is the curse that we are banishing?
Because if we don't, what is the curse we are banishing?
We are banishing the curse of immaturity.
Because it's impossible to bring someone into spiritual maturity without this process.
Mentors don't do it.
Which is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, 15 to 17, you have many guardians.
The actual word for guardians is boy teachers.
Meaning ones that teach your little boy math or piano and stuff like that.
You have many guardians, but you have few fathers.
We ban the curse of immaturity.
We ban the curse of orphanhood.
So sad when us as believers are orphans, right?
We ban the curse of single portions.
Guys, the moment you become a spiritual son, you are immediately in the race for double portions.
We ban the curse of single portions.
You can't even imagine what it is to receive twice what God has for you.
At the end of this teaching, it is not to come and say, Jacob, I want to be a son.
No, no, no, no.
This is to establish an order of fathers and sons.
This becomes a heart.
If Paul's dad, Eddie, was alive and I was a younger guy, this would have to be my heart towards him.
And this would have to be my heart towards you.
We are establishing a foundation here.
Sorry, Eddie is alive.
Meaning, thanks.
If Eddie was here now and if I was younger.
Yeah, sorry.
I take that back.
If Eddie was here now and if I was younger.
Yeah, sorry.
I take that back.
Paul, I apologize.
Immaturity, orphanhood, single portion, relationships, desolate inheritances where you have an inheritance but you don't know how to get it or don't know how to cultivate it.
All these things get banned and instead you get the blessings of 1 Thessalonians 2.
1 Thessalonians 2.
9 to 12.
You should go read it.
Paul says, I labored, I labored.
I labored so that you could take it easy.
I labored so that you can enjoy the blessings that I have labored for.
That's part of what dads do.
For discipleship.
Oh my God.
There's no better way to make disciples than through disorder because it's revelational.
And I know I said this is relational.
It's generational.
And it's global.
Here's an odd statistic.
Don't try calculating it now.
Someone calculated it so you can go home and check it.
A man who starts with 10 that he raises as sons, if those 10 would raise another 10,
in 12 years you would raise 10,000, in 18 years you would raise a million,
in 35 years you would raise 8 billion.
You would cover the earth.
If everyone responded, let's assume that the moment you do this everyone responds.
A man who raises 10, if they can raise another 10,
in 12 years 10,000 people, in 18 years a million people,
in 35 years 8 billion people.
If everybody responded, obviously they won't.
That's how the earth got to 8 billion, man.
People had sons and the sons had sons.
If everyone decided in Genesis that they will be like Jacob,
they would only be a Jacob around now.
But thank God people decided to have children.
The reason this divine order is ignored is because, like I said,
it takes time and it needs an emptying of self.
And none of us are born as fathers full of love and wisdom,
nor are you born as sons who are ready and perfect.
That I can absolutely testify for.
We can live as Christians.
We can love, we can be loved, we can heal others, we can hear,
but we can never fulfill kingdom and ministry purpose
without being connected to this order.
Any questions before I end?
I'll just touch on submission and we'll stop.
Any questions?
You know the forerunner anointing?
Where you are the one who goes ahead and breaks things open?
Even the forerunner anointing,
which is almost like saying the spirit of Elijah,
does not work in any other framework other than this.
How can you forerun if nobody is following after you?
What can you give to them if they haven't been raised
as ones that come after you?
You know, the strange thing is God is always known as the God of Elijah.
Elijah was the one who raised the 51.
Elijah gets a double portion.
It says the sons of the prophet.
It doesn't say school of prophets,
it doesn't say disciple of prophets,
it says the sons of the prophets.
I had someone write to me recently saying,
other than 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Corinthians 4,
where else does it talk about this?
The whole Bible is replete with this.
Let me just touch on submission then.
Next week, God willing, we'll do qualification of sons.
Submission is a key word.
Submission is a key word in understanding.
It's a key word in understanding the order of fathers and sons.
Submission is a characteristic.
Submission is the characteristic
that determines the character of a vessel,
or in this case, a son or an employee.
It doesn't matter which situation you put it in.
How does submission work?
Submission is first to the truth of God,
second to the arrangement on earth,
third to people or individuals.
This is the order.
It's easier to submit to someone
if I first submit to the truth of God.
Then I submit to the arrangement of God.
Does every wife like the idea of her husband being first among equals
in the scripture that says,
wives submit to your husbands?
No.
They chaff ever since the fall,
since the woman yearned for dominion,
it has been that way.
But first is to the truth of God,
that this is, God is a servant to begin with.
Second, the arrangement of God.
This is how I've arranged things here on earth,
to prosper you, to protect you, to provide for you.
Third, to the person, to the individual.
That's when it gets really not fun,
when you have to submit to an individual.
I'll submit to the arrangement, I'll submit to God,
and I'll submit to the truth of the word,
but please don't give me an individual.
It doesn't work like that.
Eventually it gets down to the individual.
And the individual is often a faulty person.
Please note, I'm saying faulty, not sinful.
When it's a sinful person, then it becomes a severe problem.
Then that person is an absentee, or a dysfunctional,
or an illegitimate father, an abusive father.
God help me, if I'm one of those,
He will judge me for what I do to you.
This is what Jesus said,
you let one of them go astray.
It would be better, Jacob, if you put a millstone around your neck
and jumped off the Alex Fraser.
True sons submit to the Father's voice.
I'm talking about not God the Father,
now I'm talking about spiritual or ministry fathers.
True sons submit to the Father's voice,
they heed correction, and take direction.
Thank God you're a church that is a blessed church in this sense.
This is not some kind of an attempt to get you to do this
because I don't have a problem here in this church.
Illegitimate sons
resist
counsel
resist counsel
and resist the rebuke of the Father.
I know the questions that will come up now,
but what if the ministry of spiritual fathers is wrong?
Then follow the same principle,
submission to the truth, submission to the arrangement,
submission to the individual.
I know that you're not going to be able to do this
if you don't have a spiritual father.
You're not going to be able to do this
if you don't have a spiritual father.
Submission to the arrangement, submission to the individual.
But what if I've had a bad experience
where I got severely burnt in the past?
It's legitimate. How long has it been?
Usually, bad experience excuses,
if they last longer than three years,
is no longer an excuse.
Three years is enough both for people, counselors,
Jane, and the Holy Spirit to heal you.
Oh, but what if it happens again?
Well, then be careful.
If you find that the people that are raising you up
are people that cannot be trusted,
people that are out to get you, people that will exploit you,
people that can be abusive, people that will hurt you,
yeah, then keep a healthy distance.
But if that is not the reason,
then it's highly individualized independence
that is causing this, nothing else.
And should you begin this process,
and we'll talk about this next week,
you'll find that as much as you will enjoy the blessings and mantles,
you will also enjoy the sackcloth and the reproaches.
Leonard Ravenhill, and I know there's a famous quote,
his son, everybody was coming to him.
He was a very famous fiery preacher.
Everyone was coming to him when he was dying and saying,
can you pray for me and give me a double portion of your anointing?
And he called his son David, and then he said,
David, everybody wants my mantle, nobody wants my sackcloth.
And so it's very rare that you have sons
that share the reproach of their fathers.
Very rare.
Where when something, when the father suffers the reproach,
that the sons come along and say,
we want to bear the burden and the sadness.
Very rare.
Ah.
When that happens, you have a household and a foundation that'll stand.
Any questions?
I'm done.
Go ahead.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Like I said earlier,
if I am someone who has grown to a place where I'm now,
I've reached a place of maturity and I now can function as a father,
I can be a father.
And I can be a father.
If I am someone who has grown to a place of maturity
and I now can function as a father,
then if, let's say,
dishalty resists counsel,
then there's nothing I can do.
I can't withdraw what I'm doing.
I have to show him the same favor.
Doesn't matter what he does with AI to how I look.
I still have to love him.
By the way, it's a process, hey?
The relationship through fatherhood is a process.
It's a process of maturity.
Yeah?
It's a process of maturity.
So on one hand, we are teaching the order of fathers and sons,
but we are not making the leap or the assumption
that all of us are fathers and sons.
We are not.
But I'm confident that all of us can be fathers and sons.
Can Joey be a father?
Can Eliakim be a father?
The word Eliakim means God rises.
It also means God will raise.
That's the meaning of the word Eliakim.
Can Eliakim be a father?
Yes.
But can he be a father tomorrow?
No.
Dawn is about learning it right now.
So it's a process.
There's process, there's direction that's involved,
there's correction that's involved,
and then finally you come to a place
where you are mature to walk in it.
Any other questions?
Come, Vivek.
Pray.
Any other questions before Vivek comes up?
Go ahead.
I want to know what my role is if there's a friend of mine
and another father.
This father is trying to teach things to his friend of mine.
What is my role?
Yeah.
So let's assume that I am...
Let's assume that Shireen is Jane's friend,
and I am talking to Shireen about stuff.
Jane's role is to find out what I'm saying to Shireen
so that Jane can support me in what I'm saying to Shireen.
Jane can also have things that she knows Shireen needs
because Shireen talks to her,
and then Jane can talk to Shireen about that.
But at the end of the day,
it must follow the vision or the plan that is set by the father,
and sometimes it is easily communicable
by just talking to each other.
And when I don't talk, if Jane doesn't talk to me,
she doesn't know what I'm talking to Shireen about.
So I might say to Shireen that, Shireen,
you're really good at painting.
You need to use oil paints.
And Jane wants to say to her, you should use felt colors.
And so she comes and talks to me, and I say,
let us start with oil paints first,
and then we can go to felt colors.
That communication helps.
So at the end of the day,
if you were the older sister in a family,
and I was the father of that family,
it would be the same.
You wouldn't give directions to your younger sister.
You would come and check with me, saying,
this is what I want to say to my sister.
What do you think, Dad?
So that's how it works.
And sometimes there's a breakdown there,
but we are learning.
We are learning.
Any other questions?
Vivek, if you don't come, questions will go on, man.
Humble boy.
Any other questions?
Vivek can wait.
Father's wrestling with sons?
Not giving you your way.
Yeah, I want to do this.
No, I can't take away your free will.
Oh my God, I'm going to try and put hindrances in your path
so that you don't go down that road.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Wrestle, wrestle.
Joey, you support the Canucks.
Doesn't matter what your dad does.
You support the Canucks.
Wrestle.
Yeah, wrestling is basically jockeying for position
so that the one you're raising is advantaged.
And if you don't wrestle, then what they say is what they do.
You must try and stop them.
Jesus did this, not Jesus.
God did this.
Jesus did this.
He did this.
Not Jesus.
God did this.
Genesis chapter 4.
He goes up to Cain and he says to Cain,
Cain, Cain,
Satan is trying to get you.
But do not give into anger because if you do give into anger,
it'll end disastrously.
He's going and intervening.
He's wrestling with Cain.
Saying, don't go down this road.
Cain still chooses to.
Any other questions?
Yeah.
Generational curses are no longer applicable.
Good question, Mira.
So what do you mean, Jacob, when you're talking about curses that go down generations?
I'm not talking about generational curses that are taken care of at the cross.
I'm talking about the...
Let me define curse here.
Curse is a condition of what happens when a person does not have someone to raise them up.
Like immaturity.
Like not having an inheritance.
Like not having a relationship.
Like being an orphan.
These are not sickness curses or satanic curses or anything.
But my God, it is worse.
It is worse.
It is terrible.
Derek and I were at Shillong and there was a grown-up pastor who was doing well, Tage.
And at one point he just started calling out to the Lord and saying, I want this, I want this.
All I did was go grab him and hold him.
And the guy was weeping worse than Eliakim or Joey.
Just sobs, broken sobs.
Why?
Because he never knew what it was to be held.
That kind of curse is sometimes worse than a healing or a demonic attack.
Because that can be broken in the name of Jesus Christ.
But this colors your psyche so deeply that it takes forever to get out of it.
That's what I meant.
Good question because you have to separate that.
Any other questions?
Whatever you're saying that fathers are responsible for their sons.
When they don't have the money to help them get free will.
So how in conflict do they lose out on the place?
Yeah, fathers are responsible for their sons but they have to have free will.
How does that work?
You are responsible to give them the best options, the best choices.
Wrestle them, help them, open it for them, try to stop them.
You do everything and then you have to step away.
It's exactly what God does with you and I.
He says, Jacob, he even presents choices.
He opens ways and after all that you're standing at a fork.
And he'll even put obstacles that you have to get over to not go down the wrong path.
But after doing everything responsible, he does not take your free will to choose away.
Leave the door open because they will come back like the prodigal.
Or they will come back like the man who slept with his stepmother in 1 Corinthians.
Because trust me man, when sin begins to get disciplined, you will want back.
It's not fun.
Discipline is always towards restoring.
So when you want revenge, ask for discipline.
Don't do what David did.
Destroy his family.
Remove him from the earth.
May his wife be swallowed.
May his child fall into the well.
Don't go down that summer.
Just say, oh God, discipline them so that they can come back.
And then quickly also add, but give me more grace and don't discipline me immediately.
Yeah.
You don't want that to fall on you.
Any other questions?
Xavier, would you please come up?
Now Xavier is going to pray a prayer that will sum all this up from a father's heart with great wisdom.
Yeah.
Happy birthday.
Thank you.
I'm going to try.
So Abba, I just want to pray that we all submit to this framework, Abba.
And as Jacob was talking about it in the beginning, that not of something only this church does,
or just because Jacob talked about it today, but recognize it as a framework you have given us, Abba.
But while I say that also, we are placed in this body by you, Abba.
So may we recognize true fathers and at the same time have the mindset of true sons.
And to those who are young, we pray that they get a vision of how to be true fathers to the next generation, Abba.
Yeah, Abba.
So we ask that our hearts be open to this.
And let there be so many true sons and fathers in this body, Abba.
I ask this in your name. Amen.
Amen.